We have a big problem.

The Christmas season's "Peace on earth, good will to man" is not playing well this year. Ironically, the problem that this religious holiday is up against is, of all things, religion. If you doubt this, I point you to the Nov. 3 cover story of The Economist entitled "The New Wars Of Religion."

In this article, Philip Jenkins, one of America's top religious scholars, claims that when historians look back on this century, they will probably see religion as "the prime animating and destructive force in human affairs, guiding attitudes to political liberty, concepts of nationhood, conflicts and wars." If the first seven years of this century are an indicator, Jenkins is on to something.

What's at the heart of all this is a marketing problem. In the history of mankind, nothing has been sold as aggressively and successfully as religion. But unlike the traditional world of marketing, the "my religion is better than your religion" arguments have taken on an intensity that has often become fatal. And when you consider the weaponry that's available out there, it is all very frightening.

So what's to be done? How can we begin to "unmarket" religion and get back to some "good will"? In my estimation we have to shift the discussion away from negative "better" to a more positive "good will" argument.

You start with undermining the logic of "better." Consider "the room full of religions" scenario. Let's say you put into a room learned representatives of each of the big four religions (Christianity, Islam, Hindu and Buddhists) along with Judaism and someone from the atheist nonreligious school.

When asked by a moderator, "What will happen, with certainty, to each of you when you die?" each participant will come up with six different predictions backed up by the religious book they use to support their predictions. Logic would clearly point to the fact that only one can be right. Five out of six, with some certainty, are wrong. And, since no one can predict the future, there is no way to dispute this statistic. And, what's worse, all can be wrong if God has no favorites.

That established, instead of arguing intensely about the unknown "Hereafter," perhaps more effort should be focused on the "here and now." All the big names in religion and philosophy have talked about this approach. Christ said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Muhammad said, "Whoever does not love their neighbor does not know God." And Confucius said, "The man of perfect virtue, wishing to establish himself, seeks to establish others." It's obvious this advice has been ignored over the centuries as each religion argued about their primacy.

If all religions spent more time on this advice, we would be getting back to that "peace on earth, good will to man" concept. Arguing and strife will get us nowhere but into big trouble. We should all challenge this logic of one religion being better than all others and focus our efforts on getting along with each other, whatever religion we pursue. For all we know, that just might be what God would like to see us all do.

Finally, you might ask, how would you launch a program like this? Religious leaders? Not likely, as many see their role as propagating and defending their version of religion as the right one. Political leaders? Maybe, but most wouldn't want to upset their hardcore religious followers with talk like this.

The only hope I see are the silent majority of people that simply want to see more peace on earth and can live with less religion if necessary. The problem is, how do you organize them? That’s even a bigger problem to solve.

Meanwhile, have a happy and healthy holiday season and spread some good will whenever you can. It's desperately needed.

With more than 40 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Jack Trout is the author of many marketing classics, including Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind, Marketing Warfare, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Differentiate or Die, Big Brands, Big Trouble and his latest, Trout on Strategy . He is president of marketing consultancy Trout & Partners and has consulted for such companies as AT&T, IBM, Southwest Airlines, Merck, Procter & Gamble and others. Recognized as one of the world's foremost marketing strategists, Trout is the originator of "positioning" and other important concepts in marketing strategy.